1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container which provides for incremental withdrawal of tubular plastic. More particularly, the present invention is directed to such a container which incorporates in or on the container housing and/or the enclosed tubular plastic a composition having malodor-counteractant activity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many items in life are associated with smells generally found to be unpleasant to the olfactory sense (“malodor”). The fact is that the disposal of these items in everyday life can be a hassle. For example, babies generate a significant number of feces/urine-laden diapers which due to the smell require frequent trips to the outside garbage can. Likewise, certain foods, like meats and fish, generate smells within a few days of being placed into a kitchen trash receptacle often requiring the emptying of the kitchen trash receptacle long before it is filled with trash. Similarly, pets such as cats generate considerable amounts of excrement-laden litter that often require more frequent trips to the outside garbage receptacle than would otherwise be necessary.
Malodors are frequently comprised of amines, thiols, sulfides, short chain aliphatic and olefinic acids, aldehydes and esters. For example, indole, skatole, and methanethiol are found in toilet odors, perpidine and morpholine in urine, and pyridine and triethyl amine in garbage odors, such as fish.
Most trash receptacles are fitted with a lid designed to contain odors when the lid is closed. However, most lids are not designed to be perfectly air-tight in respect of their receptacles, or after repeated use become less-than air tight, permitting malodor to emanate from the receptacles even when they are closed. Even with the most air-tight containers, upon opening the container, the noxious odors escape into the area giving an extremely unpleasant sensation to the person attempting to add more trash to the receptacle. Location of the receptacles in a remote location is inconvenient and generally unsatisfactory.
Another problem with trash receptacles is that they tend to retain noxious odors even after the trash is ultimately removed. After a period of time a thorough and complete cleaning of such receptacles is necessary.
Several approaches have been used to counteract malodors. The simplest of these techniques involves inhibition of the formation of the malodor itself, by for example exposing the otherwise odorous material to antimicrobials and enzyme inhibitors. A more common technique, however, is masking which is performed by superimposing a stronger pleasant odor over a malodor. Suppression of malodor may also be effectuated by exposing an odorous material to a compound that causes a negative deviation of Raoult's law. In another technique, cross-adaptation, the sensation of the malodor is impaired by blocking malodor olfactory receptors. Malodor may also be eliminated by exposing the malodor to a compound that either reacts with the malodor components to form non-odorous products, or that absorbs or adsorbs, as for example in a molecular porous or cage-like structure, the malodor.
Numerous compounds, which range from non-descript plant extracts to single and multiple chemical entities, have been touted to reduce the sensory perception of malodors. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,077,457 to Kulka discloses fumaric acid esters as malodor counteractants, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,251 to Kulka discloses esters of alpha-, beta-unsaturated monocarboxylic acids as malodor counteractants. U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,005 to Fry et al. discloses the use of chlorophyll to remove the smell from used cat litter, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,727 discloses a malodor counteractant consisting of deodorizing ingredients extracted from plants and is said to be useful for a wide variety of smells, including sulfur and nitrogen compound odors. Other compounds disclosed to be useful as malodor counteractants include water-soluble organic polymers having an average molecular weight of at least 100,000 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,986 to Kobayashi et al.), a mixture of an acid anhydride with a copper compound (U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,207 to Calhoun), a,Ω-alkanedicarboxylic acids and moncarboxylic acid esters of oligoglycerols (U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,887 to Wolf et al.—useful in reducing body odor), betacyclodextrin (U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,165 to Pilosof et al.), and undecylenic acid and its derivatives. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,009,253, 4,187,251, 4,310,512, 4,622,221 to Schleppnik disclose the use of 4-cyclohexyl-4-methyl-2-pentanone, alkyl cyclohexyl alkyl ketones, acetic and propionic acids, and cyclohexyl alkyl ketones, respectively, as malodor counteractants. WO 02/051788A1 (PCT/CH01/0076) discloses certain aromatic unsaturated carboxylic esters wherein the unsaturation is conjugated to both the aromatic ring and the carbonyl group portion of the carboxylic ester to be useful in the a malodor counteractants.
A particularly difficult trash to retain for ultimate disposal is diapers. Diapers are typically stored and accumulated in a container. The cumulative odor of diapers being stored within the container frequently reaches such an offensive level that the diapers must be disposed of before the container is full. The latter leads to a large use of container liners such as bags, and excessive emptying operations. Excessive emptying operation can be of particular concern as one hesitates to leave the infant unattended or to carry the infant and the soiled diapers to a remote location. A further problem associated with such containers is that the containers themselves over time tend to retain the malodor even when no diapers are present in the containers. Therefore a thorough and complete cleaning of such containers is often necessary to reduce the lingering odor. Further, as many diaper disposal receptacles are not child-proof, toddlers playing around the container may inadvertently open the container to allow odors to escape or the child may reach in to touch solid diapers.
Numerous receptacles have been proposed for temporarily holding diaper waste. These receptacles typically employ one of several approaches to reduce the emanation of malodor from the receptacle, which may be characterized as the use of making agents, odor sorbent material, inner lids or seals, air locks or sealed packaging.
The scented diaper pail has been commercially available for many years. Scent is added to the diaper pail in the hope of hiding the smell of the malodor by producing a smell that masks the malodor to the olfactory senses. The problem with such pails is that the masking smell itself can often become irritating to the consumer, as well as the fact that most scented diaper pails loose their masking effect after a period of time.
An odor sorbent effect relies on chemical absorption or adsorption or of accumulated odors or chemical association between the malodor and the sorbent material. An example of such approach is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,462 to Hames which uses an activated charcoal adsorber mounted in a perforated holder beneath the container lid to adsorb malodors while the lid is closed. U.S. Pat. No. 2,411,430 to Hodson shows a diaper container including an odor absorbing material attached to a lid portion of the container. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,022,553 and 5,158,199 to Pontius, there is disclosed a diaper container for temporarily storing soiled diapers prior to final disposal that employs a liner comprising a pad of non-woven synthetic fibers impregnated with an odor absorbing material, such as activated carbon. U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,055 discloses a container that includes an outer lid and an interior flap carrying an activated charcoal filter to retain and absorb the odors within the container.
Receptacles employing inner lids or seals typically position the inner lid or seal between the conventional container pail and an outer lid in order to reduce leakage of odors when the outer lid is closed and/or to minimize the time during which the user is exposed to malodors accumulated in the pail while adding more waste. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,110 to Shaw Jr. includes a canister and seal insert having a plurality of slits intersecting centrically to provide flexible, sliced pie-shaped sectors adapted to be flexed downward into the canister base. The top has a handle with a deodorizer and has a frusto-conical plunger adapted to flex the sectors of insert downward so as to permit a soiled diaper to be deposited trough the sectors into the canister.
The air lock approach includes a lid that covers a first chamber, a transfer mechanism, and a second chamber for finally receiving the waste. After depositing waste into the first chamber, the user closes the lid and then actuates a transfer mechanism to transfer the waste material from the first chamber to the second chamber. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,535,913 and 5,655,680 to Asbach et al. describe a diaper pail with a constrictor located under the lid. Operation of the pail involves opening the lid, depositing the waste into the holding chamber, and closing the lid. The constrictor is then opened allowing the waste to fall from the holding chamber into the storage chamber. Finally, the constrictor is closed to prepare the pail for the next deposit of waste. Therefore, malodors from the second chamber are never directly exposed to the outside environment. Other examples of this approach are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,226,634 to Briese, U.S. Pat. No. 1,239,427 to Bunnel & Gates, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,265,148 to Warren.
The sealed packaging approach requires a mechanism for sealing a waste in a liner bag attached to the disposal receptacle. An example of such device is the Turn N Seal Diaper Pail sold by Safety 1.sup.st (which also incorporates an inner lid). The pail has a mechanism for twisting closed the neck of a plastic liner bag used to hold the soiled diapers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,526 to Sumanis discloses a garbage pail in which the bag is secured to a rotatably mounted holder inside the pail, the top of the bag fastened in place so that rotation of the holder opens and closes the neck of the bag by twisting it. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,370,847 and 6,516,588 to Jensen et al. which discloses a disposal system employing heat-sealing members moved between an open position and a closed/sealed position by either twisting an inner lid, closing the lid, or moving an activation arm. The sealing member thermally-fuse the tubing to form a sealed package containing the diaper. Individual sealed packaging may also be employed, as for example shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,869,049 and 5,590,512 to Richards et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,813,200 and 6,170,240 to Jacoby et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,890 to Firth, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/138,058 (Pub. No. US2002/0162304A1, published Nov. 7, 2002) in which a container has an inner storage chamber accessed via a closable lid and an intermediate tubular core. In the Richards' individual packaging receptacle embodiment a replaceable cassette houses flexible tubing surrounding a core. While not limited thereby, an example of a representative cassette is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,529 to Richards et al. As would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, other cassette constructs, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,192 to Couper, may be employed. The flexible tubing is dispensed from the cassette. The length of flexible tubing is stored along side the core with a closed end disposed at the lower end of the core. After a diaper is deposited into the tube, the core is rotated, which twists the flexible tube to create a seal above the diaper. To dispose the next diaper the user opens the lid and inserts the diaper. The previous seal is pushed downward, and a new seal is formed by twisting the tube above the newly deposited diaper. Thus the device stores the diapers in a series of individually wrapped packages in the storage chamber, each package being separated from adjacent packages by twists in the tube.
While trash retention receptacles of the past that are conventionally stored within buildings, such as diaper retention receptacles, have employed numerous methods for reducing malodor emanating therefrom, prior art trash retention receptacles have not been found effective enough to please many users of the receptacles. Furthermore many proposed receptacles have been found not to be economically practical. For example, while certain receptacles employing masking agents or odor sorbents are initially quite efficacious in malodor counteractant activity, such agents and odor sorbents typically fail after periods of time due to exposure to the ambient environment. Replacement of the masking agent or odor sorbent is typically difficult, and the need for replacement occurs in an un-anticipatable manner and without warning. Receptacles that do not employ masking agents or odor sorbents typically do not provide malodor abatement for significant periods of time, particularly as air locks and inner lids tend either fail ab initio or over time to effectuate a hermetic seal, and the materials comprising the devices which employ air locks, inner lids, and/or package sealing mechanisms alone often become contaminated with malodors themselves.
There is a need for an improved apparatus for temporarily storing waste before ultimate disposal, in particular waste such as diapers contaminated with fecal material and urine. Preferably such devices would provide malodor abatement using masking agents and/or sorbents in a manner such that the activity of the masking agents and/or sorbents is not quickly degraded by ambient conditions. Furthermore, preferred devices would provide for periodic replacement of the sorbents and/or masking agents used in the device without an unanticipated recognition of the need to replace the same, and without unanticipated failure. Lastly, a preferred device should be designed to efficiently mitigate malodor without adding great expense.